FOOD DRIVE - Western Cape Working Trials



FOOD DRIVE

DEVELOPING FOOD DRIVE

PUPPIES OR NEW DOGS

When the pup pushes for his bowl let him win. If he is driving hard don’t take the bowl away. Do bowl pushing for about 1 week.

Place food in a bowl .As the dog starts to eat, move the bowl slowly away and get the pup to follow it around. The dog must make a plan to achieve the reward. Create obstacles by dragging the food bowl under the chairs/ between legs/under legs while lying on ground/ place the bowl in a cardboard box etc…Introduce mild distractions at the bowl and the pup must keep focus on the bowl. Lift the pups back legs whilst feeding. Put your elbow in the bowl . Put food in your pockets and get the pup to push his nose in. This all helps build drive.

1. The pup must pursue the dish. Push the dog backwards at the chest and he must push back to get at the food.

2. The pup must pursue the food in the hands which are half open and remain attached.

3. The pup must pursue closed hands whilst handler is walking backwards and remain connected. When doing this well , turn side on to the pup and do a few steps of heelwork. Jump away before running out of food.

Place food in the hand and close the fingers over it. He must fight for the food. Keep pushing the pup away gently and he must then keep on forging forward into the food hand.. Pups must be taught how to handle pops on the leash by giving a light pop and follow up with a food reward.

When developing this drive away from home the drive must start from the car.. He must drive for the food from the moment he gets out of the car.

Don’t do pushing when pups are teething either.ie about 3-4 months

Heelwork is not for pups – older dogs only.

HEELWORK

When starting food training feed nothing from his bowl. He has to work for each and every ration of food. Correct positioning , especially of sits at the halt, is much easier using food.

As the dog pushes into the hands, step back slowly. If he stops to look around, the food is gone! Turn around and walk away. Start by walking backwards with the dog pushing into the cupped hands in front of belly When the dog is in the front position the hands must be high enough to get his hindquarters tucked in. If the dog is pushing hard in this back walking position then the handler turns to walk forward without letting the dog disconnect. Feed from under the palm of the left hand so that the dogs head is well up. Before the dog tires and quits finish off by jumping away from the dog by giving the OKAY/FREE release command. If your food is running out, do the same release.

When working in the heel position the dog’s focus is on the armpit area. Start off by walking slowly to keep his head up so that he drives you. The position of the hand is very important.and the elbow must be kept tucked in. The dog’s chest should be touching your knees when driving in towards one. Don’t raise the height of the hand too quickly. The dog must be able to remain attached to the hand before trying to speed up the heelwork pace.Do about 45 feeds per minute. Do not beg the dog for focus.( No prompting or calling) Gradually lessen the number of feeds per minute. Hand on hip and feed in stationary position. Next hand goes behind the back and if focus is kept reward. Gradually add one step at a time before rewarding. Do distraction proofing with the dog in the stationary position without loosing focus. ( Pull on long line, buddy strokes side of dog etc)

Static positions are to be taught first. The turns must be tight.and slow. Turn and release. Gradually build up speed Can reward for ¼ of a turn. then ½ a turn then. ¾ way around - then on full turn. Take this stage slowly. Do not drop your hand position on turns as this causes head dipping. If a dog keeps on detaching then use a bigger piece of food that sticks out of the hand.

Once the dog is driving well the hand can be raised to shoulder level. If the dog holds the correct head position bring hand down to reward in correct position. When you are able to speed up the dog must maintain a trot and NOT amble.

Sits at the halt. The moment the dog sits correctly with his bum correctly on the ground reward with food. A buddy is needed to tell you if the dog is straight with bum down completely. Do not turn your shoulders to look yourself ,as this gives the wrong picture to the dog. You do not need to give the SIT command at halts as this happens automatically when using food.

Do lots of circles using lefts to get good positioning and rights to get the dog driving harder. Introduce the various paces. No turns on the move yet.

NB When working with distractions bring the dog onto the field in drive and maintain it while going through the work/distraction phase.

NB All rewards come from the left handside whether food or toy.

NB If one drive is stronger that the other leave the stronger one and only work on the weaker drive till it is equally strong with other.

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